Got some Cory catfish that suppose to be green. They were very nice green color and now they are fairly dark color and just noticed have some red coloring in some areas. Is this normal?
Cory cat changes color?
- Thread starter ThomasAllen
- Start date
smitty
AC Members
- Jul 8, 2004
- 675
- 37
- 31
- Real Name
- Jeffrey Smith
- Camera Used
- Olympus FE-370; Sony HDR-CX580
It's kind of strange to me. I have been paying a lot of attention to the since I have noticed it and and to me it seems as they have brightned up some. Also since they have seemed to brighten up I've not I've notice that they are more gold at the bottom and green at the top of body like it transitions into the two colors
All fish will change the intensity of their coloration with stress and environmental conditions. However, the red concerns me. If its near the gill or other soft tissue areas (around the mouth, vent etc) I would highly recommend testing your water for ammonia. Ammonia burns can occur in the sensitive exposed areas and result in red pigmentation (like irritated skin).
The red color is very noticeable on only one and the other two is more of a red tint, it is only on their top barbs. It doesn't look adnormal to me but more of like it's suppose to be that color. The one with very noticeable red color does not have no where near the same color pattern as the other two, body looks just like them though. It might be just me having lack of experience owning them but they really dnt have any color pattern similar to all the pictures I have seen of green cory catfish. Is there by any chance there are a rare color of the normal ones or something?
Ok just did a test, from what I've been told my test kit isn't that accurate but it's all I have to on(terra easy test strips) result are ph:7.2, nitrates:10(water changes are done on Thursdays) nitrates: 0, alkalinity:7. I currently don't have any way of testing ammonia levels
I have not seen any odd behaviour since I have gotten them, they are still zipping and zooming and eating around the take occasionally taking a break as they usually have done
If you're doing regular water changes and your tank is cycled, you should be ok. That being said, I would recommend investing in a liquid test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. The description of the redness does not sound like burns to me. But it can't hurt to be overly cautious, in my opinion. I'm not sure if there are cories with red coloration on them, but with catfish every time I think I got them down, I turn around and a new strain exists. I'd just keep a close eye on them. Whenever I get new fish, I tend to feed lightly the first couple weeks and do a few smaller water changes, rather than one big one. Its a personal thing, but I feel the smaller more frequent water changes, gradually moving back into my pattern of larger weekly ones was easier to them to adjust to.
I do plan on getting a master test kit, tank has been running for about 3 months and has been having same parameters for 2 weeks before added any fish, it's a 55 Gallon and only has 2 mollies that are about 2 weeks old, 3 cory cat, 1 siames algae eater so I believe I should be safe with continuing with my regular retuine on the water changes and as of feeding I've feed 1 defrosted cube of blood warms and twice with some flakes and I still see all fish snacking all day so I've been watching and haven't fed today
